Source: Reddit: 2024.08.21 Why is Hulk so underpowered in the MCU?
The Edward Norton stand alone movie is the last time I remember seeing him win in a 1v1 against Abomination. Thor beat I’m him in Ragnarok (before the Grandmaster cheated). Just seems like the MCU made him beatable so that there was always the possibility that the Avengers could be beat in the movies.
Hulk=tough guy
Bad guy beats hulk = bad guy really serious threat viewer should worry about
If other good guys team up to beat really strong bad guy then the viewers will think they're super cool.
He won 1v1 fights with civilians before the Hulkbuster showed up. Also tons of contenders on Sakaar.
I think Hulk needs considerable open space to utilize his own advantages. He wasn’t able to during his fight with Thanos inside the ship in outerspace. Even if Thanos was indeed stronger, Hulk could have rampaged, jumped/leaped to tremendous heights, dashed, thrown objects, thrown Thanos haphazardly, etc. if it was open space like the arena in Ragnarok. With such vast open space, Hulk could get madder and madder. Thanos seemingly did not have those exaggerated showings. Hence Hulk was temporarily nerfed via the Snap's damage in Endgame on Earth.
In the Thor fight, they were apparently evenly matched until Thor’s power/lightning manifested, and Hulk still endured the blast and called forth Thor to continue until the Grandmaster intervened.
In his fight with Abomination, Hulk actually lost the first round of the fight with his opponent standing and stomping his foot over him. So Hulk in fact still lost in the Norton film.
The mad Titan was plainly smart and utilized compact, effective blows to slow down Hulk and eventually incapacitate him, minimizing his anger and rage, or else it would had been messy and long, just like against the Hulkbuster in Age of Ultron which devastated the city.
Tony should have "won" by leading him away from population centers and giving him time to calm down. Not with a punch and a building.
Thanos should have won by clearly using the infinity stones, not with his natural superior power.
The problem with being the strongest member of the team is that they have to keep proving someone else is bad ass by specifically beating the hulk.
He is like Barry Alan from The Flash tv show. He loses first because he isn't fast/angry enough, but triumphs when encouraged to run faster/be more angry.
I perceived the Hulk to be similar to the Saiyans from Dragonball Z. Where a loss enables them to become stronger. I guess it's the same as us normal humans where we learn from failure.
